Platelet Donation Calendar

First here's an update to Kylene's blog post from earlier today.  Although Jacob's was in goods spirits throughout the day, he began the day with not much of an appetite and was unable to keep any food down until the evening.  Jacob was willing to entertain the idea of eating and even asked for specific things, but when it came to actually eating he had a hard time taking any bites.  He only ate a bite or two at breakfast and one bite at lunch, and both times he threw up shortly after eating.  According to the dietician who came to check on him earlier, this is pretty normal after a bone marrow transplant.  If Jacob doesn't start eating and keeping food down consistently, they will put him on intravenous nutrition until he improves.  I'm happy to report that Jacob did great with eating his dinner tonight (his appetite seems to have returned) and he didn't throw up even after his "yucky" oral medicine and mouth cleaning, so hopefully the eating and vomiting problems have passed.

I have created a platelet donation calendar on Google Docs.  Anyone can edit it and add themselves to the calendar.  To avoid confusion, the calendar is for platelets only, not whole blood donations.  Platelets have a very short shelf life (4-5 days) so it is important that platelet donations are spread out.  You can donate platelets regardless of your blood type.  Please make sure you qualify to donate, and schedule with the donation center at (323) 361-2441 before putting your name on the calendar.

If you have type O- or O+ blood you can make a whole blood donation specifically for Jacob.  Whole blood has a shelf life of 3-5 weeks, and an individual can donate whole blood again 8 weeks after the last whole blood donation.  Rather than having a second calendar, please just let Josh and Kylene know when you're donating whole blood and we can give you further information on how to ensure that the donation will be reserved specifically for Jacob.

Thanks to all of you who have been keeping Jacob in your prayers and have been willing to donate blood and platelets.